Portions had me raging at the complete callousness of the business leaders, doctors, and lawyers who refused to acknowledge the harm being done to these woman, and even hide and bury the evidence, while other sections had me tearing up at the pain, suffering, hope, determination, and fortitude of the women, their husbands, and families.Īs a niche history this is successful as a feminist statement and history, this is successful, and as a peek into industrial-age classism and capitalist evil this gets the job done-I think everyone should read this. I love that the author specifically wanted to write a story about the dial-painters, instead of the laws, the factories, or the men that normally get highlighted when discussions about this industry take place. Fascinating and haunting, and although some portions were dryer than others, as is to be expected in a non-fiction of this scope and subject, the humanization of the people involved was done beautifully. It took a long hard fight for health and safety practices to change and for some of the families to receive financial compensation, but for the workers it was too little too late.While this was interesting, and definitely a story that demanded to be told, there was something about the language and repetition that was used that turned this from a 5 star to a 4 star read for me. It allowed them to help their families and gave them financial freedom. Then the women began to “die off alarmingly fast.” At the time, the doctors misdiagnosed their illnesses, but their former colleagues noted the deaths and the link back to their previous jobs.įor Katherine and the other young ladies, it was a wonderful job to have until it was not. The Radium Girls A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts Bestseller For fans of Hidden Figures, comes the incredible true. ![]() Radium was lauded as the most wonderful discovery in then-modern science. Years later, the women began to experience mysterious ailments: chronic fatigue, weight loss, anemia, mouth ulcers, and pain throughout their bodies. The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore is a nonfiction book about the young women who worked as dial painters, not only handling the highly radioactive substance radium, but ingesting, and even playing with it. There was little doubt for the women since at the time radium was being sold as a “health-giving element.” The young ladies are told that radium is harmless and so they adopt the method to keep up production. Unfortunately, the brush is coated with radium. Katherine is taught the technique of lip-pointing in which the women put the brushes into their mouths to achieve a fine point. Her task along with hundreds of other young women is to paint watch-dial numerals and hands using radium. Katherine Schaub starts her first day at Radium Luminous Materials Corporation. Book Reviews A fascinating social historyone that significantly reflects on the class and gender of those involved is Catherine Cookson meets Mad Men.The importance of the brave and blighted dial-painters cannot be overstated. Radium Girls now on Netflix follows slightly on the heels of Amazon’s Radioactive, a bio of Marie Curie, the. This chilling real-life story begins in 1917 during World War I. 02:45 Two movies about irradiated women in one year Sure, why not. Looking for your next read? Check out The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore, reviewed by Fulco Library staff, Swalena G. ![]()
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